Outdoor cooking is among the favorite pastimes of many. As such, the methods and equipment for doing so are considerably diverse. Cookers vary greatly in size from small, portable or indoor units to large commercial units designed to feed hundreds. Cookers further vary in purpose; some are merely to grill the food while others add a means to smoke the foods to provide varying flavors. These cookers also diversify in the fuel source used to provide heat; natural or propane gas, charcoal, and wood are all types of combustible fuels used. These combustibles further vary in how the heat is applied to the food; some cookers place the fuels directly below the food while others offset the fuel source.
Since many larger outdoor cooker lids are typically made of a metal plate which necessarily results in a cooker lid with significant weight, multiple problems are created for cooker users. One such problem is that a heavy cooker lid can be difficult to open or a user may become fatigued with repeated opening and closing cycles. A second problem is that most outdoor cooker lids are typically incapable of remaining fixed in a partially open position. To combat this, a variety of propping or lid lift assisting devices have been designed.
One method used to assist cooker users in opening heavy cooker lids is the attachment of a large, heavy counterweight on top of or behind the cooker lid that applies a force onto the cooker lid, counteracting the weight of the cooker lid. The counterweight may be as simple as a large weight attached to the lid or may involve a weight attached to the lid via a cable pulley, such that the weight is pulled downward by gravity, which helps open the lid. This counterweight is necessarily heavy in order to have the desired effect of reducing the force necessary to open the lid. The use of a counterweight to ease the opening of a cooker lid however adds a significant amount of weight and rotational inertia to the outdoor cooker itself. For a cooker having a size of twenty-four inches by sixty inches, the counter weight required would be nearly one hundred twenty pounds; a weight that could make the cooker too heavy to easily manage, cause it to lean to one side, and may be considerably expensive with modern steel prices. Counterweights attached to a pulley may need further attention as the weight or cable can pose a dangerous system and the heavy weight would likely need to be removed or otherwise secured prior to travel. Of further issue is that outdoor cooker lids using a counterweight frequently must be opened to the full extent allowable if the cooker user is to have both hands free to use inside the cooker. An outdoor cooker using a counterweight will only remain in a fully closed or fully open position without further assistance from the cooker user or another propping device.
Another method used to assist a cooker user in opening a cooker lid is the use of a compression spring attached to the outdoor cooker body that applies an upward force onto a cooker lid, pivoting the cooker lid upward. This method of assisting a cooker user in opening a cooker lid suffers from the same problems as the other methods of assisting a cooker user in opening a cooker lid; most notably the inability of the cooker user to stop the lid at any intermediary position between fully open and closed without the use of at least one hand or a propping device.
Recognizing the benefits of keeping an outdoor cooker lid fixed in a partially open position, a variety of propping devices have arisen. One type of propping device, such as the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,299, is used to keep an outdoor cooker lid partially open involves two prop members adjacent to one another that are capable of having a distance between two prop ends increased, and that distance is fixed by disallowing movement between the members. A second type of propping device, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,232, includes a member that is wedged in between the cooker lid and the cooker body whereby the height of the lid is adjusted by shifting the member's proximity to the pivot. Yet a third type of propping device, such as the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,306, includes a prop attached to the cooker lid with slots designed to fit onto a stop connected to the cooker body where the height of the lid is adjustable by placing slots of various heights upon the member into the stop.
These propping devices all suffer from similar inferiorities. These propping devices obstruct access to the cooking surface by the user from either the front of the cooker or along the side of the cooker and all attach to the cooker in such a manner as to make them visually apparent, reducing the overall visual appeal of the cooker. These propping devices further require extra effort by the cooker user in order to stabilize them; some require tightening and loosening, some require sliding a mechanism back and forth, and yet others require the cooker user to fit a prop onto a stop before being able to allow the lid to remain at a fixed, partially open position.
Therefore, current outdoor cooker technology suffers from two general problems with cooker lid opening assistance and partially opened cooker lid designs. First, the heavy cooker lid weight requires a considerable lifting force to open the cooker lid. Second, all current methods of reducing the lifting force needed to open the cooker lid by a cooker user require the cooker user to either open the cooker lid completely or prop the cooker lid open at a partially open position with either a propping device or with one of their own hands. Opening the cooker lid fully when the cooker user only needs the cooker lid partially open to gain the desired access to the interior of the outdoor cooker reduces the heat within the cooker and requires more effort from a cooker user than would otherwise be needed, while having to manually maneuver a secondary device to prop open the cooker lid can be cumbersome and reduce access to the cooking surface by the cooker user. The final option available to the cooker user is to use a hand to hold the cooker lid partially open, which forces the cooker user to dedicate a hand to keep the cooker lid partially open, limiting what the cooker user can do under the cooker lid. This only further reduces the effectiveness with which the cooker user can operate the cooker.
A third issue in modern outdoor cooker technologies is blending maximum access by the cooker user to cooking surfaces, maximum efficiency of an outdoor cooker's fuel source, and ease of cleaning the cooker after use. While cooking, fats and other materials may accumulate in the bottom of an outdoor cooker which can result in flare-ups, reducing food quality and potentially injuring the user. However, accessing the bottom portions of an outdoor cooker for cleaning frequently entails either lifting the cooker racks out from the cooker body or maintaining a sufficient distance between the cooker racks and the cooker bottom to be able to clean underneath the cooker racks. Leaving room under the cooker racks is inefficient, as the room left could be filled with meat or other foodstuffs intended to be cooked. Since cooker racks that have been in use are typically warm during or for some time after use or have food upon them, removal of the cooker racks to clean fat while the outdoor cooker is in use or soon thereafter is difficult. One common way of gaining access to a cooker bottom is by a mechanism designed to lift a cooker rack out of the cooker during use. One example of this type of mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,306. The ‘306’ patent discloses an outdoor cooker that contains a vertical lifting device attached to a single cooker rack.
Cookers as currently used force a cooker user to choose from among many commercially available cookers with various, and often limited combinations of features. The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems set forth above.